A Taste of the Oregon Outback: From Redmond to Klamath Falls, OR

It’s true. Cortney and I cheated.

We aren’t out to prove anything to anyone but ourselves, so it’s okay. When we left Eugene, it was raining. A lot. And the route to visit her parents in Redmond, OR, was daunting to say the least. The McKenzie Pass would take The Ramble Project a couple of days of STEEP climbing.

So with the rain and looming threat of snow in the forecast, Cort and I made the short and extremely wet 10-mile ride to the Eugene airport, rented a truck, and drove our bikes over the pass.

Best. Decision. Ever.

Tears were spared and we were able to spend more time with family. Thank you, GG & Pops, for all the love and support—and wonderful conversation! It was a special visit.

We said our goodbyes in Sunriver and Cortney and I headed off to La Pine to our campsite. We made a quick lunch stop at a local taphouse with food trucks called The Wetlands. The sun came out for a bit and gave is a good excuse to take advantage of their fantastic outdoor space.

After lunch, the asphalt disappeared and we were on sandy gravel backroads. It was a foreshadowing of things to come over the next few days.

Cort found this great campsite on Hipcamp. We will sometimes stealth camp, but when we can grab an actual site, we go for it. It was on a family’s acreage and came with a hammock and some deluxe coverage for the tent.

Leaving our site and heading toward Chemult, Google Maps took us on some interesting side roads. You have to take Google with a grain of salt because some of the routes weren’t even roads, just sagebrush. Other times it would tell us to turn on roads with closed gates and big fat NO TRESPASSING signs.

ATV roads. Cattle roads. Wagon trails. Non-roads. It was all crazy and very remote.

It’s another lesson for us to look at things holistically and not to put all your faith into Maps. (To Maps’ defense, there’s a disclaimer stating real cycling directions may not always reflect real world conditions.) So true.

We stopped at small towns like Gilchrist, OR, to get water and sandwiches, and we had a brief stay in the small logging train town of Chemult. It was Cortney’s birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CORT!) so we had a nice dinner at the Ponderosa Public House and a greasy spoon breakfast at Loree’s Chalet. It was awesome.

This time of year, there aren’t too many other cyclotourists. Just crazy Brits like Paddy and Theo. They’re quite a bit younger and ride exponentially faster, but it was cool to cross paths.

There’s no two ways about it. Highway 97 is a deathtrap for cyclists.

The shoulder is respectable in some spots, but most of it is unacceptable. Cortney and I didn’t feel safe, so we took the forest roads and trails that went along the power lines and railroad tracks. It was a little slower going, but it was gorgeous. (And it was car-free.) There wasn’t any white noise from the highway and we didn’t see another soul till we rolled into camp at the end of the day. Pure poetry.

Our last day took us into Klamath Falls. The morning was cold and foggy. Aside from wanting to stay in our sleeping bags till things warmed up, we knew we needed to get to California fast.

This was one of my favorite days of riding. Most of it was offroad, remote, and exceptionally beautiful. No people, no cars, and total silence.

The whole time I couldn’t help but think, “How lucky are we?”

After a stretch, Cort and I connected with Modoc Pt. Road. It gave us miles of nice rolling country road that goes along beautiful Lake Klamath. Unfortunately, it was so foggy we couldn’t see much.

Modoc Pt. ending up putting us out on 97 again for 5 miles of unsavory—white knuckle—riding. Thankfully, our turnoff couldn’t come soon enough, and we took Old Fort Road up into the forest on quiet roads with hardly any traffic that dropped us right into town. The hills were hard, and Cortney wasn’t happy, but she was fabulous—and we made it to our home base Before Sunset.

(“Before Sunset” has become a bit of an inside joke for us. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if the day is 30 miles or 60 miles because it can still take you most of the day. It all depends on how we’re feeling, the conditions, the climbing, and stuff like that.)

The views—and the descent—coming into Klamath Falls were fabulous.

KF was a great spot to get some rest for a couple of days, take care of some work, and do laundry after sleeping in the dirt for 4 days. We are glad we were able to explore.

Next up: Ashland & Medford.

-Erik